Thursday, February 20, 2014

Interview with Katheryn Lane

Can you
give us a brief overview of your latest book? Is it part of a series?

I’ve recently published my first cowboy romance (most of my
other books have been sheikh romances), called The Texas Cowboy. Here’s
what it’s about:

Everything’s
bigger in Texas, including the problems.

When Vicky flies into Texas, she immediately falls for the
charms of local cowboy, Jack Cassidy. However, her wealthy Dallas cousin,
Laura, has other ideas and will do everything she can to steer Vicky away from
Jack and into the arms of a rich oilman.

Jack is resigned to living the life of a lonely cowboy whose
only female company is his horses—that is, until he meets Vicky. However, Vicky
isn’t the only person with a claim on his heart. Jack wasn’t always alone and
his ex is about to make a dramatic comeback.

Every cowboy has a past and this
cowboy’s past is about to destroy his future.

I originally wrote it as a stand-alone novel, with Jack and
Vicky finally together at the end, having overcome the many obstacles and
difficulties that stood in their way. However, their marriage is only implied
and since the book was published, several readers have started to ask about
their wedding and if Vicky’s cousin, Laura, will take over their wedding plans.
Therefore, I’m now thinking of writing a sequel to The Texas Cowboy. I’m
still trying to work out the details, but Laura will probably try to turn their
wedding into a huge Dallas social event and Jack’s wild ex, Cassie, will
definitely make a dramatic appearance. At the moment the book has the
provisional title of The Texas Bride.

If you
used a graphic designer/publisher’s designer, how involved were you during the
creative process for your cover?

When I published my first book, The Royal Sheikh, I
tried to design my own cover and it was a disaster! After getting very
frustrated with Photoshop, I decided to focus on writing and hire a
professional to do the designing. The cover for The Texas Cowboy, as
well as the covers for several of my sheikh romances, were created by Jane
Dixon Smith at J. D. Smith Designs, who does a fantastic job! For each book I
sent her a rough description of the type of images I would like her to use and then
she drafted a series of possible covers. They always look so good that I ask
readers and other authors for their opinions. This is really helpful as they often
point things I haven’t even noticed. For example, the cover I almost chose for A
Bride For The Sheikh showed a bride reclining. However, one reader who has
worked as a wedding consultant, told me that you never, ever photograph a bride
laying down (who knew!) and advised me against using it, so I went back to Jane
who worked on a alterative design. After a few alterations, we settled on the
final image, which I love!

The cover for The Texas Cowboy was also difficult
because it was my first cowboy novel, so Jane worked on quite a few possible
covers, and I asked other people for lots of advice and suggestions. All of
Jane’s designs looked great, but I chose the final cover because I think it shows
not just a sexy cowboy, but it also hints at the fact that this cowboy has a
troubled past.

Do you
belong to a critique group? Have they helped improve your writing?

I do and I find their help invaluable. As well as asking
people for help about my book covers, I also have a group of beta readers who
read my books before I publish them and offer suggestions. Generally, my beta
readers are romance lovers who are prepared to tell me the truth: the good, the
bad and the ugly! For my latest book, The Texas Cowboy, I was lucky
enough to have some beta readers who are romance lovers and also know about
Texas, including two people who live, or have lived, on a ranch. They were able
to give me some really helpful tips about cowboys and ranches.

What is
your writing process? Do you listen to music or do you like silence?

The key thing for me is to have several hours at a stretch
in which I’m free to write because it takes me a while to get into the flow of
a story. Therefore, I find it very hard to write during the week when work and
family commitments mean I don’t have that kind of free time. However, I’m a
high school teacher which means I get long holidays, so a lot of my work is
done during the breaks. Then, when I’m back at school, I mainly focus on
promoting. Although it’s usually inevitable, I don’t like being disturbed while
I’m working, but apart from that I can work with a variety of background noise,
such as the TV or radio. If I can, I like to listen to music while I work as it
helps me get into the mood. While I was writing The Texas Cowboy, I
listened to a lot of country music. I’m a big fan of country music, especially
Willie Nelson, Toby Keith, Alan Jackson and Tim McGraw, and listening to their
songs helped me to imagine I was in Dallas, Texas…

Do you
outline your story or just go where your muse takes you?

Before I start a book, I draft an outline of the plot.
However, once I begin writing, the characters can sometimes take over. For
example, while I’m writing a scene, I might realize that a character would
never do what I had originally planned, so I let them do something else which
is more in keeping with their personality. For example, at one point in The
Texas Cowboy, Jack is really upset. In the original plot he was meant to go
out to the stables on his ranch and spend some time with his favorite horse,
but once I started writing the scene, I realized that he was too angry to do
that; what he really wanted to do was have a drink. Therefore, instead of going
to the stables, he searches around in his kitchen and finds an old bottle of
whiskey, an action which he regrets in the morning. Sometimes my characters
take over, but not always to their benefit!

However, the basic outline of the plot remains the same,
especially the end; the hero and heroine have to have their happily-ever-after
ending. I couldn’t finish a romance with the hero and heroine apart.

Did you
hire an editor to review your manuscript before publishing?

I think it’s vital to hire a professional editor. No mater
how good you and your friends are at proof reading, it’s very hard to spot all
the errors in a piece of writing as you tend to read what you expect to read.
Therefore, I always hire a professional as errors in a book, even minor ones,
can really spoil an enjoyable reading experience. Even though it’s expensive, I
think it’s an essential cost. (However, I’m not able to have my interviews
professionally edited, so if they are any mistakes in this, please forgive me!)

What have
you’ve learned during your self-publishing journey?

The main thing I’ve learnt is that writing a book is only a
very small part of the process. As well as cover design and editing, there’s
also a huge amount of marketing involved and I think that’s true for both
traditionally published and self-published authors.As most of my marketing is done online, I’ve had to learn quite
a lot of IT. Although I didn’t master Photoshop, I’ve learnt basic html and how
to use a range of social networking sites, such as Twitter, Facebook, Goodreads
and Pinterest. It’s been a steep learning curve, but it’s also been a lot of
fun and I’ve met some amazing people along the way.

Besides
Amazon, are there any other sites where your books are for sale?

Most of my books are available from Smashwords as well as
most online retailers such as Barnes and Noble, Nook, Apple etc. However, my
last two books, A Bride For The Sheikh and The Texas Cowboy are
currently only available on Amazon. However, this does mean that readers who
are members of Amazon Prime can borrow these two books for free!

What
advice would you give a new author just entering into the self-publishing
arena?

Work hard (and it can be very hard work!), stay positive,
keep writing and most of all have fun! The world of publishing is changing very
fast at the moment and huge opportunities are opening up to writers that just
weren’t available in past. Find these opportunities and make the most of them!
Last of all, don’t do it for the money. If you want to get rich, you’d probably
be better off putting all your energy into becoming a banker.

What’s
next for you?

At the moment I’m thinking through and outlining The
Texas Bride, a sequel to The Texas Cowboy, but I also have heaps of
stories in my head, as well as several unfinished books on my computer, so it’s
possible that one of those ideas will take over. I might start work on another
sheikh romance and I’m also interested in working on a Regency romance. Whatever
2014 brings, I’ll be chatting about it on the following sites:

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